Good news world, I have found a hostel that will let me volunteer. For the next two weeks I will be working at Hostel Coco Bongo in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador. It took about 5 hours of traveling to get here from Puerto Lopez. I wish I had some awesomely exciting stories to tell you of my recent adventures, but its been fairly routine.
I spent five days in Puerto Lopez, mostly lounging on the beach and swimming in the ocean, which is warmer than any pool I have ever been in. I spent one day going to a nearby island that is home of Blue-footed boobies, a bird that is mostly found on Galapagos. They call the island the poor man’s Galapagos because it only costs $15 to go there instead of close to a thousand to get to the real Galapagos. I did a bit of snorkeling and kayaking there, then headed back to the mainland sporting a very impressive sunburn.
I chose to stay in Puerto Lopez for the next few days after that since I didn’t have a volunteer job lined up yet and was only paying $8 a night. However, come Thursday, I was packed and boarding a northbound bus with my end destination set for Bahia de Caraquez. Bahia is a self-proclaimed ‘eco-city’ and is the hub for many environmental volunteer projects in Ecuador. Located on a peninsula with a bay to the east and the Pacific to the west, it still fit my desire of a coastal town, and with the volunteer gig all set it seemed foolish not to go here. I can volunteer for two weeks, which still leaves about two additional weeks completely unplanned.
My duties at the hostel are simple, sit at reception. I spend about six hours a day sitting in the lobby in case anyone comes in. I watch movies on my computer, study Spanish, surf the web, and talk with guests. I’ve decided there are two types of people that travel. The kind that haven’t established a career yet, usually mid to late 20s, and then those who have retired and are finally seeing things they have only dreamed of. This hostel seems to be popular with the latter. I am the only person under 50 here but we all still get along just fine. All my days are pretty much the same. I wake up around 8 and go running on the beach, swing by the market and get some fruit for breakfast, come back to eat and change, then back to the beach for an hour or so before I need to be at reception. The rest of the day is spent sitting and waiting for someone to need a place to stay. I basically live on $2-3 a day so life is cheap right now. I’ll post again when I have something exciting to share. Hope all is well in whatever part of the globe you are reading this from. Ciao!
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